Brief Mode: Marshawn Lynch short on football answers, long on his foundation

The Seahawks’ star running back talks publically for the first time since three days before February’s Super Bowl. He stares down a question about his contract — then is expansive about work with his foundation “touches me deeply”; plus, LB Bruce Irvin is ready to play Thursday.

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch said little when interviewed by the media Tuesday — except when he was asked about his foundation.
The Associated Press

The Seattle Seahawks’ star running back who has had as many 1,000-yard seasons in the NFL as he’s had media interviews in the past 12 months — that would be five — sat at his locker no more than a foot away from his speakers following Tuesday’s practice for the NFL opener against Green Bay on Thursday. He picked through a huge drawer of worn turf shoes, high tops and cleats he said he was about to donate.

And he spoke.

Well, for two minutes of questions about football he barely talked — 40 words in nine questions. He mostly stared or sorted all those shoes as the R-rated lyrics boomed on.

How’s the offense looked this summer?

“Explosive.”

Do you think the offense will be more explosive and throw the ball more — read: run it less — this season?

“I guess we’ll find out.”

What are your personal goals for this season?

“To have fun.”

When Dave “Softy” Mahler of Seattle’s KJR-AM asked Lynch if he and the Seahawks were in a good place about his contract following the running back’s short holdout at the start of training camp, one that netted Lynch an additional $1.5 million in re-worked cash on top of his $5 million pay for 2014, Lynch said nothing. He looked up from those shoes. And he coldly stared at the questioner for five seconds.

One of the few football-related answers was on his relationship on the field with quarterback Russell Wilson: “We’ve just continued to grow.”

After that, Lynch was asked about his Fam 1st Family Foundation, which he began back in his hometown of Oakland with 49ers backup quarterback Josh Johnson in March of 2011. On that subject, the reclusive running back was a relative orator. He spoke for more than five minutes on what the foundation means to him, the experiences he’s had with it and how, if he wasn’t a Super Bowl-champion running back, he’d probably be back in Oakland trying to help his city’s youth full time.

He said working with one particular kid at his annual football camp at his alma mater of Oakland Tech High School this July “touched me deeply.”

Lynch and Johnson both graduated from Oakland Tech, which is in a gentrifying section of north Oakland. It’s about three miles south of where Lynch played collegiately at the University of California.

“It gives inner-city youth an opportunity,” Lynch said of his Fam 1st Family Foundation.

It was, of course, a self-serving topic. But it’s a side of the 28-year-old Lynch few hear about or see. And it was the only subject he seemed even remotely interested in discussing during his first public comments since three days before February’s Super Bowl.

Lynch was asked for an example of how he’s helped kids in the East Bay Area through his foundation and the annual football camp he and Johnson put on at Oakland Tech each July. This last one was their eighth camp.

“Well, just this year I had a kid …” he began.

Then Lynch jumped into rapping a line along with the song that was blaring into him and the five or so reporters surrounding his locker. He rhymed for about five seconds — and then, presto, he went right back into his answer.

“…I had a kid that came to my camp that told me that he was committing suicide by coming to my camp, because of the area (north Oakland) that it was in,” Lynch continued. “And by him coming, he felt like he was putting his life in danger. But he said he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to come out there and be a part of it.

“So, I mean, even with kids that feel like this might be a life-threatening situation — but to be out there and experience that they wouldn’t turn that down for nothing, I mean, that’s a big accomplishment. And I mean, you know, being able to talk to that young man and being able to help him through his situation was big for me.

“I don’t think that’s something that you go around boasting or bragging about, but that touched me dearly.”

For Lynch, it had to be his most expansive he’s ever been in an interview during his NFL career. For him, compared to his usual verbal output, it was like a Gettysburg Address.

Lynch said he stays in touch with the kids that come to his camp, that many have gone on to get Division-I football scholarships and that he often texts with them.

“I don’t think they look at me as a life-changer. I think they look at me more like a family member,” Lynch said of the inner-city youth in his foundation and his hometown. “This is something that’s just on the regular.”

IRVIN SAYS HE’S READY

Seahawks pass-rush linebacker Bruce Irvin practiced for the third consecutive day, his first days back since offseason hip surgery. He said he tore the labrum in his hip early last season and played 12 games with it.

The Packers are starting rookie Corey Linsley at center Thursday as the replacement for injured starter J.C. Tretter. Irvin said he thinks the former Ohio State Buckeye is going to have a time of it with Seattle’s No. 92 in the middle.

“Oh, man! If I’m a rookie center and I’ve got Brandon Mebane over me? I’m going to pray for him,” Irvin said with a big grin. “It’s going to be a long night, man.

“We got to just take advantage of it, you know. All the weaknesses that he shows we’ve got to expose it. Hopefully, ‘Bane’ gonna do what I know he’s going to do to him. We’ve just got to be ready.”

The last time Aaron Rodgers and the Packers played in Seattle, two seasons ago, the Seahawks got eight sacks — in the first half.

EXTRA POINTS

“I had no idea what was going to happen,” wide receiver Bryan Walters said after the Seahawks cut him Saturday, and that the team gave him no indication he’d be back so soon. Seattle re-signed him Monday to the active roster, presumably as another option with All-Pro safety Earl Thomas as the punt returner. “It was crazy,” Walters said, adding about his role now: “I still don’t know. I’ll do whatever the coaches ask of me.” Thomas said Tuesday: “This is on the big stage. (But) I’m treating this game like Pop Warner. I get to play punt return and free safety.” So we’ll see who actually returns Green Bay’s punts. … The man Seattle cut to make room for Walters, wide receiver Phil Bates, cleared waivers as expected. The Seahawks could add him to their practice squad. … Tuesday’s practice report had the same Seahawks with the same designations as Monday: TE Cooper Helfet (knee), RB Christine Michael (hamstring), and G Lemuel Jeanpierre (neck), rookie LB Kevin Pierre-Louis (hamstring), CB Tharold Simon (knee). The following Seahawks were limited in practice: Irvin, nickel back Jeremy Lane (groin) and rookie WR Kevin Norwood (ankle). … The Packers did not practice Tuesday. Coach Mike McCarthy is changing his ways this season and having a day off from the field two days before every game. Green Bay instead will practice Wednesday. … QB Russell Wilson attributed his completion rate of 79 percent with three touchdowns and no interceptions in four exhibition games to “getting so quick on my reads. I’m reading the coverage so quickly ... I’ve really grown a lot.”